Hear all sides

I AGREE wholeheartedly with Mr Tate (HAS, Dec 20) regarding proposed new laws for householders.

It should be a fundamental right for any decent law-abiding person to defend their homes and loved ones from miscreants, who have no conscience or morality and see older vulnerable people as rich pickings.

Society, through the legal framework, talks of punishment, detriment, and justice. How many times do we read of magistrates handing down community orders, conditional discharges etc?

These are a nonsense. The criminals are laughing at us. Their eloquent legal representative has again convinced the middle class, middle-minded magistrates that his 'poor client' has had a bad life.

Many of the elderly folk in our communities lived in hardship, with poor diets, little money, squalid housing but they never resorted to the violence, theft and robbery prevalent in today's society.

This Government promised to be tough on crime: it is tough on the victims, that's all.

This politically correct world is getting worse and nobody is stemming the flow. Ask the police, ask the judiciary, but the Government doesn't want the truth, so don't ask. - Robert Bridgett, Shildon.

THERE doesn't seem to be a day that goes by without learning of another victim of a stabbing.

It may be the result of a burglary or a mugging or just some young lad who has used a knife as a result of some minor squabble. The end result is the same: someone is left dead or dying.

Now it seems that enough is enough and the politicians want to increase the sentence for being found in unlawful possession of a knife.

How this will work remains to be seen. Many of the assailants are in their teens and therefore hardly likely to go to prison, but instead will end up in some glorified youth club.

In the past, laws have been made to deal with problems that were relevant to the time. For example, in the 1950s, in the Teddy Boy era, a law was brought out to stop people carrying such weapons as knuckle dusters and flick knives.

This law seemed to do the trick until relatively recently, but became unworkable when lawyers were able to prove that the offender had a lawful reason for carrying such weapons and many were acquitted.

There is no doubt that we all would like to see those who use these weapons put in prison for a very long time but surely it is better to prevent it happening in the first place. The youth of today know that if they are carrying a weapon the chances of being stopped and randomly searched is negligible, leaving them free to carry out their vicious attacks.

The police are discouraged from doing random stops and searches. What they need is a free hand to use their training and initiative to stop, search and detain those found carrying such weapons and have them arrested and put away before they have the chance to find another innocent victim. - Barry Peacock, Barnard Castle.

HUNTING

FOX hunts insist their dogs are unsuitable as domestic pets, but a dog is a dog is a dog, and I think foxhounds have a lot going for them.

Hunt supporting country homes and farms take on a puppy or two (called walking), where they become used to farm stock, horses, poultry, cats and other animals, so learn to ignore them, only returning to the main pack when mature, and only then taught to kill their quarry species.

Other arguments are: hounds are big dogs (so are other breeds), they are used to living in kennels as a pack (a pack can consist of two!).

Hounds are friendly, like people, get on with other dogs and are not fussy eaters. They can be let off the lead, will trot alongside a horse, and come when called, even enjoying a day at the seaside, as we saw on TV recently with the hunt protest in Brighton.

At the moment, hunts are holding hounds as hostages, threatening to kill the lot if hunting is banned. Surely their supporters wouldn't stand for that. If they care what happens to their dogs, as they say they do, every effort should be made, starting now, to prepare the dogs for a different life, where they would fit in.

Sheer numbers of animals will make re-homing difficult, as it seems the Countryside Alliance has rejected Parliament's compromise of 18 months and gone for the kamikaze approach of six months (February), without any consideration for those who will lose their jobs to find alternative employment.

Experienced animal charities are more than willing to help, and foxhounds re-homed by the RSPCA and others have settled well. - M Embling, Crook.

DURHAM COUNTY COUNCIL

I HAVE worked for DCC for 32 years and during that time have seen many changes.

For many years we were a solid, well-managed authority.

Under Councillor Manton's leadership we have blossomed. We are now classified by the Audit Commission as an Excellent Authority and often receive national recognition and awards for the services we provide.

Staff have also benefited. For many years I was active in my trade union and year after year we fought for the introduction of flexi-time without any success. It was one of the first modernisation measures Coun Manton introduced when he became leader.

As someone who has campaigned and worked for many years for equal opportunities, I agree that we need more women county councillors (we already have some excellent ones) but they have to be the right people, not merely an exercise in political correctness by the Labour Party. Such action is a real turn-off for voters, especially women voters.

To the members of Sedgefield Labour Party, I would say that I respect it is their decision to select a candidate of their own choosing, but please remember everything that Coun Manton has done for Durham County Council. He's made us an authority to be proud of. - Sue Wild, Hett.